Thursday, June 23, 2011

Taking the bite off raw garlic

Staci sent the following email:
Hello!

I came across your website while searching for a recipe. You may have the answer to my question in your blog, but I'm so tired tonight, I thought I'd just email you first. :)

So, my question is this (and you may not even have an answer!): do you know how to take the "bite" out of raw garlic? We took our kids to Legoland last year and stopped at a farmer's market, where we came across Majestic Garlic. THE best garlic dip ever! It's raw, vegan, gluten free....I tried to duplicate it after my supply ran out, but it was SO spicy!

Here are the ingredients:
fresh raw garlic
safflower oil
organic flax seed oil/omega 3
lemon juice
sea salt
(there are different varieties which include such things as sun dried tomato/jalepeno, cilantro, etc...)

It has a mayonnaise consistency.

The last time I tried, I just used my cheap food processor. I have since purchased a Blendtec. Do you think using a high quality blender would help emulsify and take the bite out?

Any hints? I am completely addicted to this stuff, but it's pretty pricey.

Thanks in advance for any tips you have!

Staci
I know how to do it with onion (rinse onion slices with hot water, then dip in ice water), but actually have never tried it with garlic.

Does anyone have any idea?
Please leave your comments and I'll publish them later on.

Thanks!!

18 comments:

  1. I would suggest to roast the garlic in the oil and then blend the other ingredients. It will make a more mellow flavor and have no bite.

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  2. Pocono, can't be that as the ingredient say "raw".

    We tried making it just by blending up raw garlic and almost got sick--way too strong ! (And we LOOOOVVVVVE garlic). I like the idea of blanching the slices.

    Another recipe idea I saw was to whirl the garlic with icewater and cold lemon juice before emulsifying.

    In any case, Majestic garlic spread is outstanding--albeit hard to find except at farmer's markets (and expensive). It has a LOT of oil and a good idea is to use it as your saute fat for cooking.

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  3. Roast the garlic first. It takes the bite out of it.

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  4. I just surfed into your blog & I have to say: I LOVE IT!!!

    I'm a big garlic lover & food lover and cuold not help myself from surfing your blog for over an hour. The recipes look divine & I can't wait to try them!

    Thou art awesome. :)

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  5. Cooking will mellow the flavor of any garlic. Raw garlic, though, has a lot of health benefits that can be lost in cooking. I would suggest trying a different variety of garlic. Some are much stronger than others. Porcelain varieties, although high in allicin content, tend to be rather strong, as do most hardneck varieties (Purple Stripes, Rocamboles, Silverskins). You might want to try a softneck variety, such as an Artichoke (also excellent roasted). Two of my favorites are Polish White and Inchelium Red, which are full-flavored without being extremely eye-watering hot (I would consider the Inchelium Red to be medium-hot). Hope this helps!

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Oops! Sorry! Didn't mean to post twice - having problems with my system!

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  8. Wow, great site, I too fell backwards swooning after my first taste of Majestic Garlic's spread. I made several attempts using less mild variety garlic, roasting the garlic first and blending them chilled. While the renderings were tasty, that sting, still stung. Did you find a method that worked? Please share, I will still support this wonderful local business, but I live literally on an island in the sky (or so it seems somewhere in the middle of nowhere on Hwy. 74:)

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  9. If you like the bite, then wash and clean, then put in the freezer for about 15 minutes. It should do the job. Or, if you want a milder taste, roast of dehydrate it first.

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  10. I make something like this to eat with fafala. I have made it with a food processor and a mortar and pestle. The recipe said to use the mortar and pestle. It was much better with the mortar and pestle. I don't know why.

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  11. I make something like this to eat with fafala. I have made it with a food processor and a mortar and pestle. The recipe said to use the mortar and pestle. It was much better with the mortar and pestle. I don't know why.

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  12. So here I am, now addicted to Majestic Garlic spread and trying to figure out how to make it myself! Try pickling the cloves of garlic first. That will take the bit out and you are not cooking them so they remain raw.

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  13. Try googling Lebanese garlic sauce. It is lots of garlic, lots of oil, lemon juice and salt. http://www.mamaslebanesekitchen.com/dips/lebanese-garlic-dip/

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  14. I used the recipe at this link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Thick-Style-Lebanese-Garlic-Sauce/
    The garlic I used was chopped garlic from our garden that was frozen in olive oil since last October. I think it was a very close match.

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  15. I made a chipotle garlic spread today and for my spread, I used lots of chiles chipotle and that took the bite out of the raw garlic! am thrilled to find something that worked! I really wanted to keep the garlic raw and this seems to fix it; however, I may try roasting the garlic next time if I don't have the chiles chipotle

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  16. I made a raw garlic spreadh this morning and found out that the chipotle chiles seems to fix the bite from the raw garlic!

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  17. Cooking or apply an acid like lemon juice both alter the compounds that are beneficial about raw garlic. Acids are just a chemical method of cooking a food. Of course some of the beneficial compounds will remain, but I don't think anyone can tell you how much. I can't seem to find any way to get the benefits of raw garlic without the burn. They seem to go hand in hand. So eat it however you can handle it as I'm sure some of the benefits remain. The fact that Majestic Garlic dip is so mellow implies that they probably acid cooked the garlic without realizing that this means the garlic is no longer truly raw. :-(

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  18. When one eats garlic stuffed in olives, there is no sting? How is this achieved? I could live on the stuff. I want to marinate and eat the garlic without the olives, but have no clue how to. Any suggestions out there?

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